Broomfield News

Broomfield Schools

My Town: Rotary spells success with dictionary project

DICTIONARY OF HIS OWN: Emerald Elementary third-grader Cole Velez proudly displays the dictionary presented to him by Broomfield Rotary Club members Police Chief Tom Deland and Howard Shuster. (Photo submitted by Gerry Case)

During the closing weeks of the school year, 21 volunteers from the Broomfield Rotary Club visited 40 third-grade classes at 13 elementary schools to give students personalized dictionaries/reference books. Rotary volunteers spent a few minutes with each class to teach students how to use their new books.

Included in each book is a comprehensive dictionary, parts of speech, punctuation, periodic table, weights and measures, Roman numerals, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, biographies of the U.S. presidents, a civics lesson and information about the U.S. Flag, facts about each of the 50 states, maps of the seven continents, information about each country, the planets, sign language, Braille, and the longest word in the English language (1,909 letters).

The books are designed to help expand the knowledge base of the third-grade students, because as Ludwig Wittgenstein has said, "The limits of your language are the limits of your world."

Often the reference books are the first real books students receive and own. Letters and cards received from the students express amazement and gratitude for the books. Jake, a student in Christine Fowkes' class at Emerald Elementary told the Rotary Club that his dictionary "helps me find words that I don't know how to spell. And now I know how to use a different way to talk with my hands." The last comment was a reference to the section in the book that shows the alphabet in sign language.

This program is part of an ongoing effort by the Rotarians to be an active part of our schools and to help contribute to the education students receive, because these kids are the future of our country and by working with them at an early age at the third-grade level, we feel that they will become more valuable members of our society and have a better chance to realize their potential.

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